


Afraid of the Dark

by Dunedain87



Category: 3Below (Cartoon), Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Gen, I have no idea what to tag this as, I just feel like Aja and Jim didn't get enough, So yeah, butt kicking time together, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-09-28 10:01:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17180846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunedain87/pseuds/Dunedain87
Summary: "Was Jim her friend? They’d never even talked. She only knew of him in passing, but something deep inside her told her she was correct. They were friends, and maybe it was simply fighting side by side, but Aja had a feeling there was something more to it than that."Or, an AU where Jim, Aja, and Krel begin to remember what transpired at the planetarium when Jim helps Aja defend her home from a bounty hunter, revealing his identity as the Trollhunter. Takes place during season three, before the Trollhunters wake up Merlin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because Aja and Jim didn't get a lot of screen time together which is a crime. I'm not really sure where this is headed, but I loved 3below and was hit with sudden motivation :)

Jim’s eyes flew open, and he sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. He sat up and switched on his lamp. The time on his alarm read 02:15. Great. Another sleepless night. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. His heart rate was beginning to return to normal. Jim reached for his phone, and nearly dialed Toby’s number before remembering that he was out of town with his Nana at a funeral. Claire was at Darci’s with Mary tonight, and his mom was working a night shift at the hospital. For this nightmare, he was on his own.

          He still felt bad about calling his friends late at night, but Claire and Toby had assured him that they didn’t mind. They knew, even though Jim never let on just how bad it was, that the Darklands still terrified him. Every shadow made him jump, and he would never, ever admit it, but Jim was always on edge when it was dark. That, added to the fact that he was most often attacked by trolls and other monsters at night.

          There was a scratching noise from downstairs. Jim grabbed his amulet and crept down the steps, flicking lights on as he went. He hated when the house was dark. He opted to wait until he knew what was there before activating the armour. It could be Mom, home early from her shift. He heard a sound like a gust of wind, and he heard a window snap shut. Jim raced toward the sound. When he reached the window, he pulled it open and peered into the night. He didn’t see anything, just Toby’s dark house. He needed to sleep more, he was just a little on edge.

         Jim closed the window and paced around the living room. The house was starting to feel stuffy. He needed some fresh air. It was probably not smart to take his bike out in the middle of the night, but he needed to do something. He could bike around, then call Blinky and ask if he could do some training. Blinky was always ready to train. Maybe, Jim could ask for some advice, or reassurances. Blinky always knew what to say, and Jim’s nightmare had rattled him, more than usual. More than he cared to admit.

         Jim got on his bike and left his house. He decided to go the long way, on account of sticking to the more well-lit streets. He ended up biking past the new kids’ house. Aja and Krel? Yeah. A little strange, so, naturally, they fit right into Arcadia. Jim was hit with a sense of déjà vu so strong his head began to pound. He stopped moving for a second to study the house. The style made it look fifty years old, despite being put up just weeks ago. Jim saw a large figure throw itself against the wall of the house. It looked an awful lot like a troll. Jim leaped off his bike and tossed his helmet aside.

        “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command.”

 

          “Mama, Papa!” Aja screamed, jumping out of bed. She heard footsteps before Krel ran into her room.

          “Aja, are you okay?” he asked, his brows furrowed in concern. Aja shook her head, and Krel put an arm around her. Aja leaned into his shoulder and tried not to cry. What a strange human thing. She did not like it. “Did you have the dream again?”

          Aja nodded, and the two of them sunk down on to her bed. “I know it’s just a dream, but it always feels so real.”

          Krel wrapped another arm around her. “I know.”

          Aja lost track of time as they sat there. She finally lifted her head to look at her little brother.

          “I’m the oldest. I should be the one protecting you from the nightmares, not the other way around.”

          Krel laughed. “You protect me all the time. I like that I can return the favour, even from imaginary things.”

          It was Aja’s turn to laugh. “You always know what to say, little brother.”

          Krel shrugged. “It’s a gift. Are you going to be okay now?”

          “I think so.”

          “Good, because I’m going back to sleep.”

          Just as Krel was about to leave her room, Mother spoke.

          “Detecting multiple intruders.”

          “Those stupid bounty hunters! Can’t they let us sleep?” Krel groaned and ran to Varvatos’ room to wake him. Aja grabbed her serator and ran to the door.

          “How many?” Aja asked Mother.

          “Two, although, one appears to be human.”

          “A human?” Aja repeated to herself before bursting outside. Serator raised, her battle cry died on her lips at the sight before her.

          Jim Lake Jr. was wearing the strangest outfit she’d ever seen, or had she? Aja had the weirdest feeling she’d seen it before. He was carrying a sword that looked far too large for his size. He stabbed at the hulking bounty hunter, who blocked his strike with a weapon resembling a quarterstaff. Jim Lake ducked under the bounty hunter’s strike with agility that didn’t seem possible, due to the bulky metal armour he was wearing. He landed a strike to the armour the bounty hunter wore, slicing the chest plate. They stumbled back, but Jim did not pursue. He stared at the bounty hunter expectantly, as though he had expected that hit to be fatal.

          Finally gaining her wits, Aja activated her serator and charged at the bounty hunter. She sliced up, but they blocked it with their staff. Jim stared, dumbfounded for a secton before he joined as well, helping Aja push the bounty hunter back. Aja was shocked at how well they fought together. She felt as though she had fought with him already. When the bounty hunter jabbed at Jim, Aja used the opening to dislodge their opponent’s weapon. The quarterstaff was flung from the bounty hunter’s grip. It landed on the lawn out of reach. The bounty hunter’s gaze switched between the two of them. Aja spared a glance at Jim, who was holding his sword out in front of him. He gave it a small spin before raising it and charging at the bounty hunter. Jim brought his sword down as the bounty hunter raised their forearms in defense. The armour on their wrists began to glow, and Aja heard a sizzle of electricity.

          “Jim!” Aja cried, activating her shield. A burst of energy was released from whatever device the bounty hunter had in their armour. Jim was thrown back, and landed not far from where Aja stood. He laid on the ground motionless.

          The bounty hunter was laughing.

          Aja cried out and charged at the bounty hunter. She didn’t even know Jim Lake well, but he had been hurt fighting by her side. She wouldn’t let that be in vain. She knocked the bounty hunter back with her shield before activating the blaster. She shot the devices off the bounty hunter’s wrists and leaped into the air, activating her blade. The bounty hunter rolled to the side, and Aja’s strike landed beside their head.

          “Glorious!” Aja head Varvatos’ voice behind her. The bounty hunter’s eyes widened before they jumped to their feet and took off into the night. They most likely didn’t have the confidence or skills to take on all three Akaridions.

          “Varvatos don’t!” Krel cried. Aja spun around to see Varvatos raising his serator above Jim’s head.

          “He’s a friend!” Aja ran to Varvatos and grabbed his arm. Was Jim her friend? They’d never even talked. She only knew of him in passing, but something deep inside her told her she was correct. They were friends, and maybe it was simply fighting side by side, but Aja had a feeling there was something more to it than that.

          “Well, what do you want to do with him? The child saw you in your Akaridion form.”

          “Yes, but he helped Aja fight off the bounty hunter,” Krel offered.

          “And now he is hurt because of it. Let’s bring him inside and see if Mother can help him.”

          Varvatos nodded begrudgingly and scooped Jim up in his arms. Krel ran to Aja’s side.

          “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked.

          “I am okay, thanks to him.” Aja gestured to Varvatos and Jim.       

          “What was he doing out here? How was he able to help you fight the bounty hunter?”

          “I do not know, but we will soon find out.”

          “I have the strangest feeling, like I should know,” Krel said as he and Aja made their way back to the house.

          “Me too.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response the first chapter was incredible! I'm so glad you guys enjoy this concept as much as I do. Thank you so so much to everyone who left a comment on the first chapter :) it really motivated me to get this next chapter finished.

          “Wha-where am I?” Jim’s eyes opened slowly. His whole body ached, like he’d been struck by lightning, which, unfortunately, he knew the feeling of. He was no longer in his armour, and he panicked for a split second. The amulet. He felt around before relaxing when he felt it in his pocket. He didn’t let go of it. Jim was in a vintage looking house, oh. It must be Aja and Krel’s. He rubbed his eyes as though trying to clear his brain. There had been a troll, but it wasn’t a troll, and Aja was there, only, it wasn’t Aja, she was blue and glowing, and then the lightning…

          “How are you feeling, Jim Lake?” Aja asked him. She was sitting on a chair across from him, no longer blue and glowing.

          “I think I’m okay, but what happened? What was that thing, and why were you blue?”

          “I will be able to explain everything,” Aja promised, and Jim hoped she could. He had a million questions.

          “Is he awake?” Jim heard Krel say as he walked into the living room to stand beside Aja.

          “I’m awake, but confused.”

          Krel sighed and looked at Aja. She nodded. There was a flash of light, and Aja and Krel were gone. In their place stood two taller, glowing blue creatures. They each had four arms, but when Aja spoke, it was the same voice.

          “I know this might seem a little strange,” she began.

          “No, no, this is, awesome.”

          “Really?”

          “Well, yeah. I’ve seen trolls and goblins and all kinds of things,” Jim said. Aja smiled. “So, are you, aliens?”

          “We do not like that word,” Krel muttered.

          “Akaridions,” Aja corrected. “From a planet called Akaridion-5.”

          Krel sat down beside Aja and helped her tell the story of how their planet was invaded and they were forced to flee.

          “I understand this may be a lot to take in,” Aja said.

          Jim took a deep breath. “Somehow, I feel like I already knew this.”

          “You do?” Krel asked. Jim nodded.

          “Something about this place feels familiar…” Jim gasped as his mind was flooded with memories. Porgon, the Akaridion charger, the Planetarium. Jim locked eyes with Aja, whose eyes were wide. She remembered.

          “You, you’re a, Trollhunter,” Krel enunciated the unfamiliar word.

          “I noticed an anomaly in your neuron transmitters when I scanned James Lake for injuries,” a robotic voice spoke. Jim glanced around the house, searching for the speaker before remembering that the speaker _was_ the house. “I used a concentrated amount of energy to mimic human brain functions. In human vernacular, I ‘hacked’ your brains to correct the anomaly.”

          “You unlocked our memories!” Aja exclaimed.

          “Mother, that’s brilliant!” Krel grinned.

          “It was nothing,” Mother said, but Jim could’ve sworn he detected a small amount of pride in her voice.

          “James Lake!” Varvatos hollered as he came charging down the hall. Jim tightened the grip on his amulet. Varvatos stopped in front of Jim, and actually gave a small bow. “Mother released Varvatos’ memories, as she did for you, and you are a valiant warrior. Varvatos apologizes for nearly dismembering you.”

          “Nearly what!?” Jim shook his head. It was probably better not to ask. “Wait, how long have I been out?”

          “Out where?” Aja asked.

          “Uh, how long have I been sleeping?”

          “It is almost six o’clock, Earth time,” Mother supplied.

          “Oh no, I need to get home. My mom’s shift ends at six.”

          Aja stood and helped Jim up and off the couch. Oh man, was his body sore. He was not looking forward to the bike ride home. Why couldn’t he have taken his Vespa?

          “Will you return, Jim?” Aja asked as they stood in the doorway.

          “Mother?” Jim asked.

          “Yes?”

          “Would you be able to fix my friend’s memories too?”

          “Affirmative.”

          “I’ll be back.” Jim put a hand on Aja’s shoulder. Her top one. “We have a lot to talk about.”

         

 

Aja watched until Jim was out of sight. Arcadia was strange. Perhaps it was a good thing they had landed here. Aja walked back to the living room where Krel was nearly vibrating with excitement.

          “Do you remember what that Porgon did with Akaridion tech? Imagine what we could accomplish if we fused them in a controlled scenario…”

          “We just remembered that our classmate secretly battles trolls in the night, and all you can think about is tech?” Aja asked incredulously. She would never understand her little brother.

          “Not everything is about fighting, Aja,” Krel retorted.

          “Perhaps the king-in-waiting is on to something,” Varvatos added.

          “Oh yeah?” Luug came bounding around the corner and jumped into Aja’s lap.

          “The troll magic might help us get home,” Krel explained. “The short one at the Planetarium had some kind of gravity hex on his hammer. If we could harness it, it may help us.”

          “That seems doubtful.” Luug flipped on to his back so Aja could rub his belly.

          “What do you know?”

          “Shouldn’t the two of you be getting ready for school?” Varvatos interrupted before Aja could respond to her brother. She settled for shooting him a glare.

          “It is Saturday. The human children do not have to go to school on the weekends.”

          “And you champs haven’t eaten breakfast yet!” Ricky said, grabbing a pan and putting it on the stove.

          “That’s right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Lucy added, cracking an egg on the counter, which splattered everywhere, much to Luug’s delight. He ran around, licking up the splatter.

          “Blanks were not made for such delicate tasks,” Krel sighed, standing up to help Lucy with the eggs while Aja watched with amusement. Krel’s hands, used to working with delicate Akaridion tech, cracked the eggs into the pan with no splatter, much to Luug’s disappointment.

“Perhaps we should use our human forms for when Jim brings his friends,” Aja suggested. Krel groaned in protest, but followed Aja to renew their human forms.

         Varvatos had disappeared to his bedroom, which meant more breakfast for Aja and Krel. Ricky and Lucy dumped a pile of scrambled eggs on each of their plates. It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang. Aja jumped up and scraped the rest of her eggs into Luug’s open mouth. Varvatos came charging from his bedroom.

         “Woah, Varvatos, please. Jim’s friends don’t remember you yet,” Aja reminded him.

         “Take Luug with you,” Krel shouted after him.

         Aja opened the door to see Jim and Claire.

         “Hey Aja,” Claire greeted, brushing a hair out of her face.

         “Toby’s still out of town,” Jim explained as Aja ushered them in. “Blinky and ARRRGH, well, they won’t be able to come until it’s dark.”

         “I still don’t understand why you want Blinky and ARRRGH to come here, and why you told them about us.” Claire glared at Jim.

         Jim raised his hands. “Claire, you need to trust me on this. Mother?”

         “On it,” Mother said.

         “Wait, what?” Claire glanced around, searching for the voice. “Oh, oh, oh dios.”

         “You remember?” Aja asked.

         Claire nodded. “You guys are ali-I mean, Akaridions.”

         “And you are Trollhunters?” Krel asked, moving to stand beside Aja.

         “Well, technically he’s the Trollhunter. I’m more of a sidekick.”

         Jim nudged Claire’s shoulder. “We are Trollhunters.”

         “So, my memories are still a bit fuzzy. Your house is actually your spaceship?”

         “That is accurate,” Krel answered.

         “That is so awesome.”

         “Come in, please,” Aja said, ushering them inside. Claire darted around the house, eyes wide, asking Mother question after question. Vex entered the living room with Luug in tow.

         “Varvatos sees you have brought Claire, though, he wishes to spar with the big one again.”

         “Spar? Aja, you mentioned you were training to be a warrior?” Jim asked.

         “Yes.” Aja straightened her posture.

         “Where do you train?”

         Aja grinned. “Come. I will show you.” Aja led Jim to the entrance of the interior of the Mothership. Jim followed her down the hallway, taking in everything. She hadn’t brought him in here before. She led him to the raised platform where Varvatos and her trained. “It is not much, but the Mothership is not equipped for warrior training.”

         “It’s great,” Jim admitted.

         “Really?”

         “Sure. It’s no Hero’s Forge, but…”

         “Hero’s Forge?” Aja interrupted.  

         A smile spread across Jim’s face. “Oh, you would love it. There’s obstacle courses and an armoury.”

         “The only weapon I need is my serator.” Aja activated her blade and smiled.

         Jim returned the smile and activated his own armour. He raised his sword, and they began sparring, asking questions about each other’s training and weapons as they did so. Jim flipped Aja over his shoulder and on to her back. He offered her a hand up.

         “You must teach me that move,” Aja said between breaths. “You fight differently than Varvatos. More graceful, less force.”

         “I’m not a troll. I’m not large enough to fight with force.”

         “How else can one fight?”

         “You have to use your opponent’s strength against them.” Jim showed Aja how he was able to use her momentum to flip her over his shoulder. “Try it on me.” Jim deactivated his armour and charged at Aja. Aja grabbed his shoulders and lowed her own, twisting her body and sending him careening to the ground.

         “I did it!” Aja laughed. Instead of helped Jim back to his feet, she sat down beside him.

         Jim rubbed his shoulder. “Well done. You’re a natural.”

         “Thank you. You are an excellent warrior yourself, Jim Lake.”

         The two of them sat for a mekron, catching their breath and taking a break.

         “Do you like Arcadia?” Jim asked.

         Aja turned to face him. That question seemed a little strange, but she answered honestly. “I do. It is a peculiar town, but perhaps that is because of you and your,” she paused, searching for the right word, “trollhunting.”

        “I have a feeling that isn’t even the half of it,” Jim laughed. He stood up and offered Aja his hand. “Round two?”

        “Yes, but this time,” Aja changed into her Akaridion form, “I will be using all four hands.”

 

         It waited. The fear was gone. There was none to be found, despite the child’s fear of darkness. As it was, there was nowhere else for it to go.

         So it waited.

         It waited until the night fell.

         It had followed him this far.

         It could wait a little longer.

         


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me way longer than I would like to admit to figure out how to spell "antramonstrum" but I did get it! Thank you so much for the wonderful comments last chapter. As always, feel free to let me know what you think :)

          “Thirty times,” Aja said as she and Jim sat with their feet hanging off the platform. They had lost track of time, but Jim knew it was time to take a break.

          “What do you mean?” he asked.

          Aja swung her feet. “When we fought Porgon, you said you’d been through that day thirty times already. I only lived through it, ten times, maybe. What did you do those thirty days?”

          “It was, frustrating,” Jim laughed. “I tried getting Ms. Janeth to cancel the science fair. Gas leak, flash flood, I even sabotaged everyone’s volcanos to convince her to cancel it. I tried going alone, I tried ambushes, I scoured what’s left of Blinky’s library, but believe it not, no mention of Akaridion tech.” Jim threw his hands in the air in exasperation. Aja laughed. “Honestly? I had almost given up, until I bumped into you.”

          Aja stopping swinging her feet and looked at Jim. “I still cannot believe you didn’t go crazy. I was losing my mind after the third day.”

          “I’ve had stranger experiences with time.”

          “Really? Stranger than repeating the same day over and over?”

          Jim nodded. “Don’t ask.” He didn’t want to think about the vision his amulet had shown him when he was on trial.

          Jim’s phone vibrated, shaking him out of his thoughts. “It’s Toby. He just got back in town, and he’s almost here.”

          Aja clapped her hands together. “Lively!”

          “I wish I could bring you guys to Trollmarket,” Jim said, trying to hold back the horrible flood of emotions that came with losing Trollmarket to Gunmar.

          “Why can’t you?” Aja asked, her voice quiet.

          “It’s a really long story.”

          “I told you mine,” Aja said.

          “Come on Jim,” Claire urged as she and Krel walked in. Claire sat beside Jim. She grabbed his hand as Krel sat beside his sister.

          “Toby should be here,” Jim protested. “I can’t tell it without him.”

          “Right about that, Jimbo!” Jim turned to see Toby walking in with Varvatos, still in his human form. Jim couldn’t help but notice he glared at Aja in her Akaridion form. She gave him a shrug and a guilty wave.

          “You got here fast,” Jim remarked.

          “Well yeah. You can’t just drop a bombshell like,” Toby gestured around the room and to Aja and Krel, “this, and expect me to be chill.”

          “Okay, okay. Where do we begin, Tobes?”

          Toby sat down beside Claire. “With,” he paused for dramatic effect, “meatloaf.”

 

 

 

          “Perhaps we can help you retake Trollmarket,” Aja suggested. She wished, desperately, that there was something they could do for their new friends. Jim just shook his head.

          “Three more people, uh, Akaridions, won’t do much good against an army of Gumm-Gumms, and besides, the Heartstone is gone.”

          Aja hated the amount of guilt in Jim’s voice. He sounded distraught, and terrified.

          “I know what we need! The blanks make the most excellent pancakes, and we haven’t eaten lunch yet,” Aja suggested.

          “Awesomesauce,” Toby said, jumping to his feet. “I love pancakes.”

          Jim said nothing, instead, he stared down, his eyes darting around the room, as though he was searching for something. 

          “Jim?” Claire put her hand on his arm. Jim shook his head.

          “I just thought, never mind.” He stood up and offered Claire his hand.

          “That was strange,” Krel whispered to Aja.

          “Yes. Did something malfunction?”

          “Unlikely. I ran diagnostics on Mother yesterday.”

          Without warning, all the lights went out.

          “You sure about that, little brother?”

          “I swear I checked all the systems yesterday!” Krel defended.

          “Uh, guys? What’s going on?” Toby asked.

          “Aja, a circuit must have overloaded or something.”

          “I’ll help you find it,” Aja said, grabbing her brother’s arm in the dark.

          “Everybody, follow Varvatos’ voice,” Varvatos bellowed. “Varvatos can navigate the Mothership with his hands behind his…” Varvatos cried out as he tripped over something, presumably Toby, judging by the yelp.

          “Watch it, dude!”

          “Varvatos apologizes to the short one.”

          Toby huffed in indignation. Krel pulled a small light out and gave it a shake, which was enough for him and Aja to see by. They set to work, checking the control panels for any sign of what went wrong.

          “I don’t understand. The lights are connected directly to Mother’s functions, but everything else is working. It doesn’t make any sense.”

          There was a burst of blue light, and Jim was standing with his armour on, his sword raised. His sword and amulet gave off a small amount of light, illuminating the darkness around him. Aja noticed that his face looked panicked, and his arms were shaking. Was that normal?

          “Jim, is everything okay?” Aja asked as she crossed the platform to him. He didn’t say anything, just stared at the darkness as though he expected it to attack him.                 

          The darkness around Jim began to ebb and flow, like waves. Aja shuddered. That definitely wasn’t normal. She activated her serator, and Jim swung his sword, but the darkness simply parted around it like water. It began to press in on him, and the halo of light from his amulet shrunk. A shiver ran down her spine, and the darkness crashed in on Jim. He screamed as it pushed him off the edge of the platform. Aja dropped her serator and dove forward, grabbing his arm with two of hers. Claire appeared beside her, and they pulled Jim back up together.

          “Krel, we need light!” Aja shouted, falling on to her back and twisting around to her stomach to find him.

          “I’m working on it!” he answered. Aja spotted her brother. He held the light between his teeth as he frantically pulled out wires and tapped screens at the nearest control panel. “Aha!”

          Light flooded the ship once again, and the tide of darkness hissed before draining from the room with a sound like wind. Everybody stood, shocked for a mekron before they all spoke at once.

          “What on Earth?”

          “Seklos and Gaylen!”

          “How was that possible?”

          “Was it an antramonstrum?”

          “No, the antramonstrum smells like smoke.”

          Aja stood up and surveyed the room, searching for any sign of the threat. When she was certain the strange darkness had cleared, she knelt beside Jim, who hadn’t moved or deactivated his armour. Aja kept her serator activated, which she was sure Jim noticed.

          “Do you know what that was?” she asked. Jim shook his head.

          “No. I-I’m sorry.”

          “It is okay.” Aja stood up and offered two hands to Jim, and two hands to Claire. “Everybody is okay.” She pulled them to their feet.

          “Yes, but I would like to know how that, _thing_ ,” Krel gestured around the room, “was able to bypass Mother’s security just to switch off the lights! I had to reset the protocols.”

          Aja could sense Krel’s frustration, but they had other things to worry about.

          “I don’t know what it is, but I think I might know where it came from,” Claire offered.

          “Really?” Toby asked, crossing the platform to them, along with Krel.

          Claire nodded. “It felt like, it felt like something from the Shadow Realm.”

          “How can you be sure?”

          “I’m not.”

          “Let me get this straight. You _think_ a malevolent being escaped from the Shadow Realm to terrorize Jim?”

          “I told you, I’m not sure, but the feeling I got before it attacked, felt like something from the Shadow Realm. And besides, I don’t hear you coming up with a better reason for a shadow attacking Jim,” Claire snapped. “It makes sense.”

          Jim still hadn’t said anything, just watched Toby and Claire’s exchange. Aja was surprised Varvatos hadn’t demanded clarification yet. She was greatly confused, but didn’t interrupt. Krel on the other hand, had no such reservations.

          “What do you mean, ‘Shadow Realm’?” Krel demanded.

          “Please, little brother.” Aja put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

          “I need to know how a shadow bypassed Mother’s security.”

          “We’ll have to talk to Blinky. He should know,” Toby offered.

          Krel huffed, but he didn’t press the issue any further.

          “Blinky can’t get here until nightfall though,” Claire said.

          “Well then we’ll just go find him, it’s not that hard,” Toby said.

          “Jim?” Claire put a hand on Jim’s shoulder. He jumped slightly before he answered, his voice quiet

          “Sure, yeah. We should take Aja, Krel, and Varvatos with us.”

          “Lively! An adventure!” Aja nudged Krel with her shoulder. He glared at her.

          “This sounds glorious! Aiding your allies…”

          “Is most important,” Krel finished for Varvatos.

          “Precisely.”

          “Ay yi yi.” Krel rolled his eyes.

          They all headed back through the house to the door.

          “Wait right here,” Aja instructed as she ran to renew her human form. Aja rounded the corner, now in her human form, just as they were about to leave the house. Toby put a hand on Jim’s shoulder.

          “Your armour,” he mentioned.

          Jim looked down at his armour. “Oh, yeah.” He took a deep breath and deactivated it. The amulet dropped into his hand, and he slipped it into his pocket. His hand was still shaking. Aja had never seen Jim so rattled. Granted, they’d really only had a couple days to get to know each other, all of which they had no memory of until today. Still, fighting Porgon, even an interplanetary bounty hunter, Jim had remained calm and collected. He never let his fear interfere with the mission. Something was different this time. Aja was going to find out what. She would help her friend.

          She had to.

         


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys! The support I've gotten for this story has been amazing. You're all wonderful and it means the world to me. By all means, I do intend to finish this story, but my computer recently stopped working, so I'll have to put this project on pause until I can save up enough money to (hopefully) get it fixed. Again, thank you so much for the support, and hopefully I'll be able to finish this soon :)

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think :)


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